Configure an HTTP Proxy for TMDB in Synology Video Station

Synology Video Station uses TMDB to retrieve movie and TV metadata. In some network environments, the built-in TMDB plugin cannot access api.themoviedb.org directly.

The following script adds an HTTP proxy to the TMDB plugin. It also:

• Configures the TMDB API key
• Enables the TMDB plugin
• Clears the old TMDB cache
• Restarts Video Station

Requirements

You need:

• SSH access to the Synology NAS
• Root privileges
• A working HTTP or mixed proxy
• A TMDB API key
• Video Station installed

Example proxy address:

http://192.168.1.10:7890

Create the script

Create a file named:

setup_videostation_tmdb.sh

Paste the following content into it:

#!/bin/sh
set -eu

BASE="/var/packages/VideoStation"
PLUGIN_BASE="$BASE/target/plugins"
TMDB="$PLUGIN_BASE/syno_themoviedb"

SEARCHINC="$TMDB/searchinc.py"
CONSTANT="$TMDB/constant.py"

CONF1="$BASE/etc/plugin.conf"
CONF2="$BASE/target/etc/plugin.conf"

CACHE="$PLUGIN_BASE/plugin_data/com.synology.TheMovieDb"

PROXY="${1:-}"
APIKEY="${2:-}"

[ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ] || {
    echo "Run as root."
    exit 1
}

[ -n "$PROXY" ] && [ -n "$APIKEY" ] || {
    echo "Usage: $0 http://proxy-ip:port api_key"
    exit 1
}

for file in "$SEARCHINC" "$CONSTANT" "$CONF1" "$CONF2"; do
    [ -f "$file" ] || {
        echo "File not found: $file"
        exit 1
    }
done

STAMP="$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)"

for file in "$SEARCHINC" "$CONSTANT" "$CONF1" "$CONF2"; do
    cp "$file" "$file.bak.$STAMP"
done

python3 - \
    "$SEARCHINC" \
    "$CONSTANT" \
    "$CONF1" \
    "$CONF2" \
    "$PROXY" \
    "$APIKEY" <<'PY'

import json
import re
import sys
from pathlib import Path

searchinc = Path(sys.argv[1])
constant = Path(sys.argv[2])
config_files = [Path(sys.argv[3]), Path(sys.argv[4])]

proxy = sys.argv[5]
apikey = sys.argv[6]

text = searchinc.read_text()

if "# TMDB_PROXY_BEGIN" in text:
    text, count = re.subn(
        r"(?m)^        proxy_url = .*$",
        f"        proxy_url = {proxy!r}",
        text,
        count=1,
    )

    if count != 1:
        raise SystemExit("Proxy update failed.")
else:
    old = (
        "        handler = urllib.request.HTTPCookieProcessor(cookie)\n"
        "        opener = urllib.request.build_opener(handler)\n"
    )

    new = (
        "        # TMDB_PROXY_BEGIN\n"
        f"        proxy_url = {proxy!r}\n"
        "        proxy_handler = urllib.request.ProxyHandler({\n"
        "            'http': proxy_url,\n"
        "            'https': proxy_url\n"
        "        })\n"
        "        cookie_handler = urllib.request.HTTPCookieProcessor(cookie)\n"
        "        opener = urllib.request.build_opener(\n"
        "            proxy_handler,\n"
        "            cookie_handler\n"
        "        )\n"
        "        # TMDB_PROXY_END\n"
    )

    if old not in text:
        raise SystemExit("Proxy target code not found.")

    text = text.replace(old, new, 1)

searchinc.write_text(text)

text = constant.read_text()

text, count = re.subn(
    r"(?m)^DEFAULT_APIKEY\s*=.*$",
    f"DEFAULT_APIKEY = {apikey!r}",
    text,
    count=1,
)

if count != 1:
    raise SystemExit("DEFAULT_APIKEY not found.")

constant.write_text(text)

for path in config_files:
    data = json.loads(path.read_text())
    changed = False

    for section in data.values():
        if not isinstance(section, dict):
            continue

        for item in section.get("metadata", []):
            if item.get("id") == "com.synology.TheMovieDb":
                item["enable"] = True
                changed = True

    if not changed:
        raise SystemExit(f"TMDB entry not found: {path}")

    path.write_text(
        json.dumps(
            data,
            ensure_ascii=False,
            separators=(",", ":"),
        )
    )

PY

python3 -m py_compile "$SEARCHINC" "$CONSTANT"

synopkg stop VideoStation

rm -rf "$CACHE"
mkdir -p "$CACHE"

chmod -R 777 "$PLUGIN_BASE/plugin_data"

rm -rf "$TMDB/__pycache__"

synopkg start VideoStation

echo "Done."
echo "Proxy: $PROXY"
echo "TMDB plugin enabled."
echo "Backup suffix: .bak.$STAMP"

Run the script

Connect to the NAS through SSH and switch to root:

sudo -i

Make the script executable:

chmod +x setup_videostation_tmdb.sh

Run it with your proxy address and TMDB API key:

./setup_videostation_tmdb.sh \
http://192.168.1.10:7890 \
YOUR_TMDB_API_KEY

Verify the proxy configuration

Run:

grep -n "TMDB_PROXY\|proxy_url" \
/var/packages/VideoStation/target/plugins/syno_themoviedb/searchinc.py

You should see your proxy address.

You can also test the proxy directly:

curl -I \
-x http://192.168.1.10:7890 \
https://api.themoviedb.org

The script enables the TMDB plugin for both movies and TV shows. The built-in plugin test may still fail because it does not use the proxy configuration added to the Python plugin. This test result can be ignored as long as metadata retrieval works normally in Video Station.

Video Station updates or package repairs may overwrite the modified files. Run the script again if TMDB stops working after an update.